i'm with you
by vinesse
Summary: Thirty Day Prompt Challenge: Kingdom Hearts version. Includes all three of the main trios. Rating changes with each chapter, but will never go above T. [Parallel to my Homestuck version]
1. Chapter 1

_{Tattoo}_

You wake up in a bed not your own with no clothes and breath that smells like the bastard child of green apple schnapps and straight vodka. You roll over only to hit Aqua, and Terra wraps his arms around you from behind to pull you against his chest, and now you know where you are, you're in Aqua's bed in Aqua's apartment. It's late in the day, you can tell by squinting vaguely in the general direction of the windows and holy shit you're hungry. Your shoulders also hurt, but you don't think about that when you sit up, causing Terra to frown and Aqua to mumble. You breathe on them for shits and giggles, getting up while they both moan about hurling.

You quickly figure out that standing and walking is not in your best interest, because the world seems hell-bent on spinning as fast as it possibly can, so you sit at the edge of the bed and hide your head in your hands. You contemplate throwing up, but then realize that Aqua would murder you and you have quite a will to live. Even if you have to deal with breath that smells -and tastes- like the bastard child of green apple schnapps and vodka. What the hell did you even drink last night? Everything's kind of fuzzy, you remember Aqua protesting over shots, then joining you and Terra in drinking them, and around the third you start to lose track of what exactly happened. You think you went somewhere?

Terra sits up and looks at you, one hand pressed to his eye. "What are you doing, Ven? Come back to bed."

"I'm hungry," you inform him, and wave grandly to the door. "Want to cook for me?"

"God no," the brunet responds, but he gets up all the same, climbing carefully over a sleeping Aqua to sit beside you. You lean against his chest, before squinting at his arm.

"Why is there gauze on your arm, Ter?"

He looks at you for a second, then down at his arms, head cocked to the side. "No idea." He peels it back, and you lean over to get a better look.

"Are those wayfinders?"

They are, and there's three of them forming a triangle, incredibly detailed about about the size of your thumbnail each. They're exact replicas of the ones you each own, and you admire the work while Terra groans loudly. "They're pretty, you got tattoos last night? You must've been smashed."

Terra pulls your hair gently, and you bat his hand away like an annoyed child. "I'm not the only one, you've got gauze spots all over your back, Ven."

You open your mouth to object as you bend and twist to see and feel, but sure enough, you do, three small squares of it. Two are on your shoulders, one each, and the third is at the base of your spine. You have a feeling you already know what's under the squares, but you have Terra confirm for you, just in case. He nods, and you roll your eyes heavenward because of course the three of you are maudlin drunks, why wouldn't you be. You sneak a peak at Aqua, before pulling the covers down just a bit.

She's as naked as the two of you, but there's once again three gauze patches, this time on her hips and under her belly button. You lean over to kiss her awake while Terra trails his fingers up her leg, and she's laughing by the time you blow a raspberry on her stomach. She sits up, blue hair framing her sharp face, and Terra kisses her knees while you brush her hair with your fingers. "What are you two doing?"

"Discovering that we're horrible drunkards, and so are you," Terra tells her, large hand covering her dainty one. Aqua laughs and allows the two of you to pull her into a sitting position, not even questioning her newly inked skin. You have the feeling she's the one that suggested the whole event last night, and she probably wasn't as drunk as the two of you. You don't mind though.

Terra actually leaves the bed first, standing up and searching for his pants, or at least his underwear, while you and Aqua lounge together, a mess of twined legs and arms. He flicks both of your feet once he's half-dressed, and you laugh before getting up and wrapping a sheet around you. Aqua pulls a face, but she lights up quickly when she spots Terra's shirt hanging over the back of her desk chair, and she pulls it on. It goes practically to her knees, but she's gorgeous, and neither you or Terra try to convince her to remove it. The three of you march out to the kitchen, where you perch on the counter while Aqua and Terra start to make food.

You check the clock when you're all standing around eating, Terra leaning against the counter to your left while Aqua mirrors him on your right, and aren't really surprised to see it's about four in the afternoon. "Guys, I've got to go soon."

They complain, they always do, but you've got work at six and you really need to stop by your house for a shower and a change of clothes. You run your tongue over your teeth, and bump cleaning your mouth to the top of your priorities list.

Aqua kisses your cheek, and softly asks you, "Why don't you just move in, Ven?" Terra looks up from his plate at that, and she looks at him too, adding, "You too, Terra."

You look at her, then Terra, then back and forth until your head starts spinning again and you take a break to choke down some eggs. You think about it, frowning hard, while Terra plays with your hair as gently as he knows how.

"You know," he starts, scratching at your skull with dull nails, "this place is almost as close to our jobs as our houses."

Aqua nods enthusiastically, eyes lighting up, and you focus on swallowing. "It is! I've checked." She blushes when Terra looks at her strangely, defensively continuing with, "What, I've been thinking about it a lot! I only really get to see you two on the weekends, and even then, sometimes you two have work, or I have work, and I just." She stops then, playing with her fork before setting it down, fingers knotting together.

"We miss you too, Aqua," you tell her gently, and you pull her close because she looks like she wants to cry, and you honestly can't take Aqua's tears. Terra shifts closer to wrap his arms around the both of you, and you lean into him. "I'd like to move in, but your place is kind of small, Aqua."

Terra nods his agreement, and you hear a sniffle below your head. "We could move into a different apartment? There's a two bedroom one that just became available a few floors up, I could talk to the landlord," your girl suggests, and you smile at her hopeful tone.

"Sure," you agree, nodding your head.

"I'm fine with that," Terra adds, pressing a kiss to first Aqua's forehead, then yours. Aqua looks up with unabashed delight, and you laugh when you kiss her. She kisses you back, lips soft and tasting vaguely of cherry alcohol, and Terra's fingers trace your spine while he sucks lightly on your shoulder, careful of your new tattoo.

The three of you end back up in the bedroom, though now you sit in a small triangle, admiring each other's inked skin. You all agree that Terra's was the most uncreative, a triangle on his arm, but you love the placement of Aqua's and she murmurs delighted sounds when you show her yours.

Her wayfinder occupies your left shoulder, Terra's is housed on your right, and your own is at the base of your neck, in line with the other two. Aqua has your wayfinder on her right hip, just below the protruding bone, Terra's on her left, and her own right below her belly button. You waste half an hour kissing her arms and sides while Terra rubs her shoulders, and she gently brushes your hair back and forth with her fingers.

You know you have work to go to, but right now you're delirious with the feeling of their hands and lips and bodies against yours, and you can't even remember why you've never moved in with them before. Your eyes slide closed while you smile, and Aqua laughs while Terra sighs, and you allow the feel of them to slowly pull you under.

* * *

**A/N:**

haha, yes, this is the same prompt challenge as the homestuck one! i just really love it, and wanted to do a separate kingdom hearts version. sue me.

enjoy wayfinder babes being wayfinder babes.

-vin


	2. Chapter 2

_{love letters}_

When Roxas unlocked the door of Traverse Town Coffee at three in the fucking morning, the first thing he noticed was that the closing team had forgotten _again _to sweep the back half of the store. Roxas wasn't quite sure how they managed to forget one of the only jobs they had, but they never failed to only sweep half the store. The second thing Roxas noticed was that when he reached the counter, there was a single cup beside the register. The blond frowned and picked it up, setting his bag on the stool behind the counter. The cup was empty, but as he turned it in his hands, he saw there was writing scrawled crookedly on the cardboard ring. Roxas raised one eyebrow, then glanced around to confirm that yes, he was alone, before holding the cup up to read it.

"_Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet and so are you."_

...What?

Roxas rubbed his eyes, and passed the cup off as a joke, tossing it into the trashcan before beginning to start the oven for pastries. It was three in the morning, way too early to deal with any mysterious coffee cups, and the guys working the next shift would kick his ass if he didn't make enough croissants to stave off the morning rush.

The rest of the morning, while he rang up orders and created what he considered to be miracles for the coffee-deprived zombies that showed up in his shop, Roxas thought about a simple poem written in loopy handwriting on an empty coffee cup.

* * *

The next day, there was another one.

Roxas put his chin on the counter, and stared at the cup. It was once again empty and positioned next to the register, and this close Roxas could see the black scrawl around the reinforced cardboard. He slowly picked it up, turning it in his hand as he read, eyebrows drawn together and lips mouthing the words as he went.

"_A fair pretty prince in a castle so high_

_Always looking with sky colored eyes _

_You laugh like a song and smile like the sun_

_Will you allow me to be your one?"_

"This is getting ridiculous," Roxas muttered, putting the cup underneath the counter. He pulled it out three hours later, shoving it in his coworker's hand. "Xion, I think someone's leaving these for you."

The girl stared at the cup in her hands, turning it over, before smiling slightly. Roxas was fairly ridiculous sometimes, Xion knew, and this was no different. "First off, Roxas, I am in fact a girl. Sometimes I know, it's hard for you to remember that given how regularly I wipe the floor with you at Struggle, but I am one. So, I'm not a prince. Plus," she turned the cup, pointing the bottom towards Roxas, "it says 'Roxas' on the bottom. In a heart. With pink pen."

It took approximately ten seconds for Roxas's face to turn a dangerous shade of red, and five more seconds for him to slam-dunk the cup in the garbage can while Xion laughed, holding her stomach. Roxas muttered under his breath as he passed the girl, hip-checking her as he went. "Go ice some more cupcakes."

* * *

Roxas held his face in his hands, refusing to look up at the five cups in front of him. Each had a heart drawn on the cardboard ring, with "_so fine_" "_you & me_" "_cool cat_" "_be mine_" and last of all, "_soul mate_" written inside. Roxas wasn't sure what was going on, but it was six months past February and there was no need to have conversation hearts anywhere near him. Even written ones.

Xion arrived ten minutes later, took one look, and laughed.

* * *

"Roxas, you know it's someone on the night shift. Why don't you just come back then and wait around to see who does it?"

Sometimes, Roxas thought, Xion didn't know anything at all. "Because, they'd see me looking for them."

Xion sighed as she called out the name of an order, passing it along with a smile and wave. Boys were pretty dumb, in her opinion. "Well, then, just pass by near closing and look through the window."

Roxas watched her for a minute, chewing on his lip as he thought. "Fine. Whatever." He ambled to the back to retrieve what he hoped were cool cookies while Xion smiled in triumph. The minute he was out of sight, she pulled a cell phone from her pocket, ducking behind the counter to send a quick message.

"_prince to arrive at closing_"

Five minutes later, Xion received an answer, just as Roxas returned with trays of baked goods, bitching about broken cookies or something. Xion didn't hear or really care.

"_the phoenix has wiggled out of work._"

Xion was pretty odd, Roxas observed, watching the black-haired girl dissolve into a fit of giggles.

* * *

It was around nine forty-five, fifteen minutes before the shop closed, and Roxas felt like an idiot. There were only three employees that he could see from the window, and they were all people Roxas knew for a fact were in committed relationships. He sighed, passing a hand through his hair as he opened the door, the other raising in greeting. "Hey."

Sora smiled, pretending that for the past five minutes he had absolutely _not_ been drinking a latte that hadn't been paid for, or trying to shove whipped cream onto Riku's face. "Roxas!" The brunet rubbed his hands on his apron, before placing his latte out of sight. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for someone. Does anyone else usually take this shift?" Blue eyes passed over to Riku and Kairi, the latter of whom looked incredibly suspicious, leaning against the counter and picking at her nails, the barest tint of red dotting her cheeks. "Hm? Kairi?"

Riku talked over the sputtering girl, waving a hand at her behind his back. _Shut up._ "Nope. Me and Sora. Sometimes Kairi."

Roxas narrowed his eyes, smirk growing positively predatory in the face of a weak party, namely the redhead. "You sure about that?" He moved around the counter, on the pretense of stealing Sora's drink. The the trio exchanged a glance.

"Of course we are," Kairi protested, flapping her hand distractedly. "It's mostly only us!"

"Mostly?"

Riku slammed his elbow into the counter, swearing and rubbing the bone. "She didn't mean that," he said, watching as Roxas rounded on Sora. The silver haired boy grimaced, then grabbed Kairi's hand, edging along the wall to the store room, saluting a the panicked brunet as he disappeared out of sight.

Sora chuckled nervously, wiping sweaty hands on his apron. "So…"

"Who is it," Roxas demanded, sticking a finger in his friend's face. "It's getting _creepy_, Sora!"

"Look, Rox, I swore I wouldn't tell!" Sora held up his hands, shooting a glare to the back room, where a strangled choking noise had started. "Just. Let him do his weird mating ritual, ok?"

"_Him._"

Sora swore.

Fifteen minutes later, Roxas strode out of the coffee shop, with whipped cream in his hair, hands in his pockets, and information to think about. In the store, Sora bitched at his traitorous friends, only relenting when Riku fixed him another latte and Kairi presented him with a freshly-made cookie.

* * *

"Axel," Roxas crowed triumphantly as Xion walked in, slamming a palm on the counter. "That's his name."

Xion smiled, mentally planning the untimely demise of Sora and Co. as she set her bag in the back room, rolling up her sleeves as she pulled on her apron. "How'd you find that out? Did you see him?"

"Nah, Sora told me." The blond was practically vibrating, smirking wide as he dumped grounds in the coffee grinder. "Kairi gave it away, though. I'm going back tonight, they said he'd be working."

Xion's fingers twitched, inching to the pocket where her phone usually was, but it had met an unfortunate end yesterday at the skate park, courtesy of one Larxene. Considering she had no mind for memorizing numbers, and Axel only had a cell phone that wasn't in any phone directory, Xion felt all their planning grind to an immediate halt, then promptly take a tumble into a conveniently placed lava pit. She watched Roxas prance around like an all-knowing shit, and vowed to hunt down Zexion or Demyx right after work and make them give her the redhead's number. Right after knocking her lovely coworker down a few pegs. "So are you going to admit you blushed like a love-sick school girl when you found the messages?"

It was so worth the punch to the arm she received in return for hearing Roxas scream like a small child.

* * *

It was half an hour until closing, and Axel was sweeping the store for the last time. No one ever came in this late, so there was no use leaving it until last minute, or for one of the other idiots to try and do. For some reason, neither Riku nor Sora ever managed to sweep the whole store, getting distracted by something after the first half.

Speaking of Riku and Sora, Axel cut his eyes to the side, watching the other two boys whisper and gesture to each other, occasionally shooting a glance to their redheaded co-worker, dropping their eyes when they saw him staring. They had been weird all shift, breaking apart when Axel approached, only to immediately regroup when he was gone. He watched them now, leaning on the broom, eyebrows raised. "What the hell are you two talking about?"

It was Sora who replied, while Riku coughed and went to pretend to clean out the coffee pots. Again. "Nothing, Axel!" he replied, turning his beaming smile onto the suspicious man. "Nothing at all! Are you done sweeping yet?"

Axel rolled his eyes, and resumed cleaning. It was obvious he wasn't going to get any answers out of them, and Kairi wasn't here to interrogate. He briefly considered calling her, but figured she'd be screening his calls if Riku and Sora were that agitated, so he gave up on that idea quickly.

But really, all the staring was getting pretty damn annoying. "What are you two _doing_," he finally asked, exasperated and tired. "Why do you keep _looking_ at me, jesus."

It was Riku who answered this time, glancing at Sora. "Nothing. You're imagining thi-" He paused, mouth open a little as he looked out the front window. Sora followed his line of sight, dropping the coffee strainer he had been carrying to the trash, while Axel looked on in bemusement.

"Oh, _shit_," Sora breathed, and then he was gone, yanking Riku into the back and slamming the door as Roxas entered the shop. Axel looked after them, scratching the teardrop tattoo under his eye slowly, before looking at the blond.

Roxas looked back, grinning slightly, watching as Axel slowly turned an interesting shade of red. "You're Axel."

Axel nodded slowly, reaching a hand up to rub the back of his neck. "Uh. Yeah."

"And you know I'm Roxas."

He received a nod in reply this time, and by then Axel's ears were red.

"You've been leaving me notes," Roxas continued, stepping over to Axel's place in the middle of the shop. "On coffee cups. For a month."

Axel made a choking sound, taking a step back, because suddenly the kid didn't look sweet anymore, he looked _evil_, with a grin that promised death and destruction and maybe a hint of dismemberment.

Roxas just smiled more, watching Axel squirm in discomfort, before crossing his arms, feeling his eyes crinkle at the corners as his mouth relaxed into a more cheerful grin. "So, are you going to finally ask me out yet?"


	3. Chapter 3

_{serial killers}_

They laugh when Axel's shown his new partner, and Axel understands why. The kid (definitely a kid, no matter how much he glares and pretends) looks about twelve instead of his supposed eighteen, with wheat-blond hair and eyes the approximate color of the ocean Axel's always wanted to visit. He's short and there's baby fat still around his cheeks (how old is he, really?) and Axel doesn't think he's ever seen a more innocent-looking brat, though maybe Demyx might have had him beat when he joined at the age of fifteen all those years back.

Axel tolerates the laughter, because one they're his superiors and two, he kind of wants to laugh himself, even if it might come out a bit hysterical, because how the hell is he supposed to teach this _child_ how to become a cold-blooded murderer? He didn't sign up for this, not at all, but now he's stuck with the boy and so he leads him to his room.

Roxas doesn't talk at all while Axel shows him around the castle, doesn't speak a word, and

Axel doesn't know if that's comforting or nerve-wracking, because shouldn't he be saying _something_? Asking about where things are or how stuff gets done or some shit like that? Axel hasn't been a teenager in a long time, but he vaguely remembers being a really annoying asshole, especially to authority figures. But Roxas stays quiet while Axel gestures towards his room, door freshly painted white with a small fourteen painted on a plaque beside it, and shuts the door behind him with a final-sounding 'click' when he ventures inside.

He's a strange one, Axel thinks while he stuffs his hands into the pockets of his jeans and heads back to the kitchen, but Roxas might turn out alright if he can learn what Axel's got to teach him because no one can bend the rules better than Axel, and bending rules is how you survive in Organization Thirteen. So Axel relaxes while he shuffles through the cabinets for something to eat, because he'll keep Roxas safe.

* * *

The minute Axel sneaks into a mark's house with Roxas, he regrets every nice thing he's ever thought about the kid. The blond trips twice up the stairs, and Axel has to grab Roxas's mouth to keep him from swearing while he listens for the homeowners, palms sweaty and neck flaming red in nervousness. It's a long, quiet two minutes before Axel releases his partner, glaring and shoving a finger into his face to tell him in no uncertain terms he better get it together before Axel murders him too.

They creep up the stairs, Roxas hanging back while Axel investigates carefully. It's a simple house, two stories, only bedrooms and one bath up on the second floor. They leave the children's rooms alone, gliding past silently, because there's no need to add that to their conscious, and the bedroom only has one occupant when they finally manage to get there. Axel does it, silent knife to the throat, while Roxas stands in the corner and watches, blue eyes wide but oddly calm considering he's now an accessory to murder. Axel wipes the blade off on the sheets, and motions the other back down the stairs, where he pauses to snatch a nice-looking watch from the entryway table. No need in leaving it there for someone that's dead.

"So that's it?"

Axel startles, hand reaching towards his knife before he realizes that it's Roxas talking, not someone coming after them. Vaguely, Axel realizes that this is the first time Roxas's spoken to him. "What's it?"

The look he receives could probably melt flesh, and Axel wonders where the hell he learned the look from. "I mean," Roxas speaks slowly, like Axel's an idiot, as they head down the sidewalk, "that's it? We're done for the night?"

Axel nods, teeth clicking as his mouth snaps shut, and he doesn't look at the other as they walk back to the hideout, breath forming ghosts in the night air.

* * *

Roxas kills the next mark, knife as silent as it's wielder, and Axel takes him to a bar to celebrate. Or so he says. Axel's the only one to get drunk, and of course it's not his fault that they're cornered in the alley behind the bar, not at all.

Roxas disagrees.

"What the hell are you _doing_," he snarls, back to the wall, knife in his hand. "This is your fault. I _asked_ you if you knew the place, did anyone else come here, did you _look at the people inside before you barged in,_ and you said yes!"

"I said," Axel begins stiffly, knife-point wavering between the two men in front of him while he eyes the smaller of the two, "I _thought_ so. God, Roxas, give me a break, I'm three thirds of the way to truly smashed and you're kind of ruining it."

"Me? What about them!" Roxas explodes into action, knife stuck in the chest of one man while the other is quickly dispatched by a fist to the face. Axel doesn't even manage to stab his knife at something before there's bodies on the floor and blood on his partner's face, and in the next minute they're running from sirens.

It may be the vodka, but Axel doesn't think he's ever seen anything more beautiful than blood staining Roxas's hair, and he tells him so. It's worth the elbow to the face, and the split lip that results, because Roxas wears 'embarrassed as hell' well.

* * *

Axel doesn't know what happened, but what he does know is that Roxas is laying on top of him in what seems to be yoga pants and a tank top, there's blood on a pile of rags on the floor, and wine bottles across the room. He runs a hand through his face while he sits up, rolling his blond friend off the side of the bed, and thinks about when the hell they could have possibly gotten a hotel room because all he remembers of the night is shots, rum, and more shots.

Roxas sits up and glares, lower lip stuck out, hair knotted and smushed to one side, and Axel smiles at the stripe of blood up his cheek.

"Where the fuck are we." Roxas's voice is low and rumbly with sleep, and he swipes the back of his hand across his eyes before glancing at Axel, standing up and stumbling over glasses on the way to the bathroom.

Axel shrugs, scratching his chest while he pulls his phone out, humming and checking his email. "No idea, but we're supposed to be in Ontario. Does it look like Ontario out there?"

"Nope," Roxas replies from the bathroom, sink running as he brushes his teeth with a finger. "Looks sunny and warm."

Axel checks the phonebook, groaning and flopping on his back. "Texas," he intones, wrist across his eyes. "Texas. We're so fucking dead, Rox, it's not funny. How did we get to Texas? Take a left on the road to the asshole convention instead of a right?"

There's a thump as Roxas lays beside Axel, then a snort. "Probably. I'll blame you, don't worry."

"Wouldn't dream of it going any other way."

The two of them lay there for a while, and Axel thinks somewhere in the back of his mind that this, just being here with Roxas, is the best thing he's done in a while, even if he'll get his ass kicked once they get home.

* * *

Roxas turns white as a sheet when they receive the details for their next mission, and he grabs the manila folder before Axel can blink, gripping the papers with one hand, the other coming up in a wave.

"I've got this one."

Axel shrugs and lets him walk off, because he sees no reason to fight Roxas for it.

* * *

Axel finds a reason why he should have fought Roxas for it, right at the moment the blond turns on him with a gun, and the brunet in the bed leaps up with a goddamn _sword_.

"Roxas." Axel starts slow, one hand rubbing the back of his neck, the other gripping his knife firmly. "What the ever-loving hell do you think you're _doing_."

They're in the house of one Sora Greenbourough at approximately three in the morning. It was supposed to be an easy kill, quick and clean, and it had gone to shit the moment the boyfriend had stepped out of the bathroom and Roxas had turned on his partner. The silver-haired man by the door pulls out a knife as well, and Axel starts to get a nasty feeling in his gut. "Roxas," he says again, voice strained now.

Roxas doesn't reply, choosing instead to look at Sora, and Axel catches the way they have the same eyes, same nose, same _face_, and he gets it now, why Roxas refused to let him even see the file, why he was so insistent that he had to be the one.

The man from the door pads over, bare feet silent against carpet, and Axel watches them whisper quietly, Sora gesturing in tight, quick motions, and Roxas shaking his head hard. Its silent, other than the low conversation at the opposite end of the room, and Axel wonders if he can make it out the window with minimal damage.

It's Sora who speaks, while Roxas hangs back in the shadows and glares. "So, you're Axel?"

The redhead nods quickly, eying the sword Sora still holds in his hand, who laughs and sets it on the bed after noticing the other's glance. "Yeah," he hesitates, glancing out the window one more time. "I'm Axel."

"I'm Sora, this is Riku, and that's my brother," Sora replies, cheerful for having been woken at three in the morning by murderers. "And we have a problem, Axel, 'cause three out of four in this room would kind of like to keep everyone in here alive, ok? So you have a choice. Forget you were here, tell them we're dead back at wherever you came from, or we can dump your body in the river."

It takes Axel three seconds to think it over, and only five to wholeheartedly agree to whatever they want. He pretends not to notice Roxas's look of relief, even as his own lips curl up into a smile.

It takes all four of them half an hour to pack up the entire house, and Axel isn't surprised that they're all prepared for something like this. Neither Sora or Roxas bothers to explain, though Riku mutters something about a gang, and Axel chooses not to ask. Roxas drives his brother and his boyfriend to the airport while Axel sits in the front with him, and they leave them there an hour after their supposed murder.

Roxas is silent on the drive back to Organization Thirteen, and Axel stops him outside the door, knuckles white on the younger man's shoulder. "You realize that they could kill us over this?"

"Not if you don't tell, Axel," Roxas rolls his eyes, exasperated and tired. "Are you going to tell? Because we both know I'll be the only one to take the fall if you talk."

Roxas is gone by the time Axel answers, whispering a soft 'no' to the door.

* * *

Roxas kisses Axel for the first time while they're standing over a man tied to a chair. It's a quick peck on the lips, right before he pulls the trigger of his gun, and Axel smiles down at the guy bleeding from a bullet to the head because they may be ten kinds of fucked up but they could be fucked up together.

* * *

They're sent to go after a young girl named Kairi, who has hair almost as red as Axel's and pretty blue eyes. She lives in a nice suburb in the middle of Florida, in a two-bedroom home complete with white picket fence.

Axel doesn't blink as he helps Roxas throw pig's blood about the living room, and he nods as Kairi boards a bus bound to who-knows-where. He just smiles, and Roxas smiles back, and they burn Kairi's file in the same fire they burn the dead body of a homeless man, taking pictures to bring back home for the report.

* * *

"I'm leaving."

Axel doesn't even raise his head, just motions Roxas further into his room, then to close the door. "What?"

"I said," Roxas repeats, slow and soft. "I'm leaving. Soon."

Axel sits up on his bed at that, uncrossing his legs, sliding his glasses atop his hair. "You can't leave, Roxas, you can't just leave," He insists, fingers tightening around the cover of the book he's holding. It's a book of fairy tales, Roxas sees, and Axel sets it aside, cover down. "You don't just leave the Organization, Roxas," Axel tries again.

"Too bad, because I am." Roxas leans against the wall, arms crossed, eyes narrowed while he taps a beat against his upper arm. "I want you to come with me."

Axel's already shaking his head before he finishes, and Roxas tightens his grip on his arms. He leaves Axel alone in his room, head still shaking.

* * *

They don't talk for a week, and the first word Axel speaks to Roxas is a soft 'ok' while they eat dinner. Larxene whips her head around, eyes narrowed, but neither man glances at her, and she returns to her plate.

Roxas smiles.

* * *

Roxas leaves eleven months after he joins Organization Thirteen. During that time, he completed seventy-seven missions, which totaled up to eighty-seven murders, an impressive record for someone who didn't even last a year.

When he leaves, Roxas confronts number VIII of the Organization, a man by the name of Axel, who is murdered in the ensuing fight. No body is found but by the amount of blood left in the alleyway behind a local bar where the two were last seen, it would have been impossible for the man to have been left alive.

Airports and borders are put on watch, but no one notices a short black-haired man who boards a plane to Europe with his companion, a tall, lanky blond who looks very disgruntled, and whose roots still hold a tint of fire-red. They leave from an airport in central France, and the names on their passports prove to be fake.

Roxas is never heard from again, and if Organization Thirteen is brought down three weeks later by a redhead who resembles Axel, a silver-haired man, and a brunet that looks remarkably like Roxas, well, no one really minds that much.


End file.
